2 Kings 18

1 In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah.

2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.

4 He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.

5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.

6 He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following Him; he kept the commandments that the LORD had given Moses.

7 And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him.

8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from watchtower to fortified city.

9 In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it.

10 And at the end of three years, the Assyrians captured it. So Samaria was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel.

11 The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

12 This happened because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God, but violated His covenant—all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded—and would neither listen nor obey.

13 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.

14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand from me.” And the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold with which he had plated the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and he gave it to the king of Assyria.

17 Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

18 Then they called for the king. And Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.

19 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours?

20 You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?

21 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

23 Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!

24 For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

25 So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, along with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak with us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

27 But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!

29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; he cannot deliver you from my hand.

30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey—so that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, for he misleads you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’

33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

35 Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

36 But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

37 Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, [that] Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

3 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [any] that were before him.

6 For he clave to the LORD, [and] departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.

7 And the LORD was with him; [and] he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.

8 He smote the Philistines, [even] unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

9 ¶ And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which [was] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, [that] Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10 And at the end of three years they took it: [even] in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that [is] the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:

12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, [and] all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear [them], nor do [them].

13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house.

16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of the LORD, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

17 ¶ And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which [is] in the highway of the fuller's field.

18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

19 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] this wherein thou trustest?

20 Thou sayest, (but [they are but] vain words,) [I have] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

21 Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, [even] upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: [is] not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

23 Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

25 Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand [it]: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that [are] on the wall.

27 But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? [hath he] not [sent me] to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:

29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:

30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

31 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make [an agreement] with me by a present, and come out to me, and [then] eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.

33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where [are] the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?

35 Who [are] they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with [their] clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

1 In the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel was king Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah.

2 And he was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

3 And that which was well pleasing in the sight of the LORD, as his father David.

4 And he cut down the high places, and brake down the pillars, and cut down the groves, and brake down the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for until that time the children of Israel had burned incense unto it, and it was called Nehusthan.

5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, neither was there any before him.

6 He cleaved unto the LORD, and departed not backward from him, and kept his commandments which the LORD commanded Moses.

7 And the LORD was with him; and whithersoever he went forth, he dealt wisely. For this cause he turned aside from the king of Assyria, and was not subject unto him.

8 And he smote the Philistines unto Gaza, and unto the border thereof, from the castles even unto the strong cities.

9 In the fourth year of Hezekiah king of Judah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, Salmanesser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it;

10 And he took it after three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah; that is, in the ninth year. Hosea king of Israel, when Samaria was won.

11 And the king of Assyria led Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

12 Because they had not hearkened unto the voice of the LORD their God, and had transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded, whom they had neither hearkened unto, nor done.

13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah went up Sanherib king of Assyria against all the strong cities of Judah, and took them.

14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent unto the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have sinned, turn from me; and I will bear that which thou layest upon me. So the king of Assyria laid on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 So Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house.

16 At that time Hezekiah king of Judah brake the doors of the temple of the LORD, and the plates which he had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and the arch-trustee, and Rabshakeh of Lachish, unto king Hezekiah, with great power, unto Jerusalem: and they went up. And when they were come, they stopped at the water-pit by the upper pool, which is by the way of the fuller's field.

18 And he called unto the king. And there came out unto them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah the chamberlain, and Sebena the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the chancellor.

19 And the archbishop said unto them: Beloved, say unto king Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What defiance is this, in which thou trustest?

20 Thinkest thou that there is yet counsel and power to fight? Whereunto then dost thou trust, that thou hast turned aside from me?

21 Behold, thou trustest in this broken reed, in Egypt? which, if any man lean upon it, it shall go into his hand, and pierce it. So Pharaoh king of Egypt is unto all them that trust in him.

22 But if ye will say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not this he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah hath abolished, and hath said unto Judah and Jerusalem, Before this altar which is in Jerusalem shall ye worship?

23 Now therefore vow unto my lord the king of Assyria, that I will give thee two thousand horses, and that thou shalt add horsemen unto them.

24 How wilt thou then abide before the least of my lords, one of my lord's subjects, and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

25 But thinkest thou that I have gone up without the LORD, to destroy this place? The LORD hath said unto me, Go up into this land, and destroy it.

26 And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Sebena, and Joah, said unto the prince of the arch, Speak unto thy servants in Syrian, for we understand it: speak not unto us in the Jews' tongue in the ears of the people that are upon the wall.

27 But the archbishop said unto them: Did my lord then send me to thy lord, or to thee, to speak such words? Yea, to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung with you, and drink their own urine.

28 And the prince stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah set you up; for he is not able to deliver you out of mine hand.

30 And let not Hezekiah put you off unto the LORD, saying, The LORD will deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

31 Do not obey Hezekiah. For thus saith the king of Assyria: Take hold of my grace, and come out unto me; and every man shall eat of his vine, and of his fig tree, and drink of his well,

32 Till I come and take you into a land like unto your own, where is corn, and wine, and bread, and vineyards, and olive trees, and oil, and honey; and ye shall live, and not die. Hearken not unto Hezekiah: for he deceiveth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.

33 Have the gods also of the heathen delivered every man his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods to Hemath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Iwa? Have they also delivered Samaria out of my hand?

35 Where is there a God among all the gods of the earth, which have delivered their land out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

36 And the people held their peace, and answered him nothing: for the king had commanded, saying, Answer him nothing.

37 And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah the chamberlain, and Zebenah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the chancellor, came unto Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the prince.